TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 163, 12 July 1890, Page 3

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

WAGER (Pitt-street).—Lady Walmsley is by Musket— Meiscy (full Sj3tor to Carbine); Tamora by Musket—Moonlight.

R This afternoon the first day's racing of the §•• Victoria Racing Club Winter Meeting takes place at Flemington. Tho Grand National Hurdle Race of 1,50050 vis the " plum " of '■i ■• the. programme, and Aucklanders will be H interested to learn how Donald shapes with X} his lenient impost of 9st 3!b. Papers to Wi' :: hand by thia week's mail state Rae has the horse looking uncommonly well. Next Saturday the Grand National Steeplechase will be decided. Titokowaru is greatly fancied by tho Caullield touts, and there are more unlikely things than that he will not win. BusacO and Madhiaro both strong I glean from Melbourne papers that the publication of the Caulfield Cup weights V did not lead to any wagering on that event Si worth the name. Tantallon is nominal '' fivourite at 100-to 4, and Dunkold and dburchill figure at 100 to 3, nt which price alia Marvel has been backed for v smull amount. Prince Consort remains favourite " for the Melbourne Cup, the best price on .■■.•■•"■■■.qßer against him now being 100 to 5. Jjelos, Titan, and Pakeha are all at 100 to 4 each, and Carbine ia easier at 100 to 3. "Augur" has been analysing the Mol-■ ■ tjournoXhip weights. He selects the best ;j handicapped to bo Magnus, Melos, Princo - Consort, Pakeha, The Serf, Chaldean, MaCa'doi', Camden, Tartar, and The Spot. 'From Sydney I learn that the ofc-Auck-land cross-country iider, W. Hatfield, who ■ Had his leg broken when riding Pilot at I'ariri, is getting on very nicely, it turning out that tho fracture is not so bad ets Wflg at firet feared. J'ame* Kean, the ■: ■ tfelj-kh'owh trainer, is recovering from his ■ . athiek of paralysis. :, IHvidend Was struck ouh of the Caulfield Cup immediately the weights wore posted. Broiids'ide hns also been scratched. Ml" W. Lyons has wOn another race in Sydney with his pony Secret, a son of k ,;':, I tampire. Thia was' the Galloway Handicttpit the , Moorefield races on tho 2nd July. ' Brazil, an English jockey wlio lately ■ ■■';#«ri«*d* t h4 i Mtiboirt , ne, rode Melville, the winner oi the Steeplechase, at tho last CaulfJeld Meeting. Commenting on the win, the v Sportsman" says i—" The great ovatitih which Brazil received must have " been a most! pleasing surprise to bim, and nave shown him that Australian crowds areas well able to appreciate genuine horsemanship as any others. Mia finish Was, certainly a great surprise to the on- .■; looker*, And hie judgment of pace was ; . tjhdenfable, for hd catne just at the very ?iftgtit tadtiidtit, and brought his horse homo With \lhY hands alone, without flourishing the flail; thus setting an example to colonial boys, who are altogether too fond of using the whalebone." ' « J 'ln'looking up the fate of the top weight : in the Melbourne Cup since its inception, it ia found that only in two instances since 1861 has the horse occupying the " post of ■' honour" got honno first. Those occasions Were in the following year when Aroher tfdnwith lOst 21b, and Warrior who had ,&b 101b in 1869. Judged through pastex- ; periencea, the backers of Carbine for the « JOjOOO pounder have not too rosy a show of i -winning. Malua, 9-sfc 91b, has been the only ; horse to carry over 9st and win during tho ' pasb 20 years. At the sale of the Royal yearlings, at >; Bushey Paddocks, Hampton Court, Baron , (Iβ Hir«o,li gavo 5,500 guineas for a yearling sinter to Memoir. c-tia ~ The special commissioner of the ' Sportjng Lifo " thus refers to Kirkham in speaking of the Newmarket Stakes candidates: ..— '' Kirkham was liked by the best of good judges, as he has improved considerably of lftte, and if Mr White gets tired of him there will be plenty of customers forhia possession to till the role of a premium /■winner, among tho hunter sires honoured by the Royal Commission." ~TheNe'vv-ZealanderEscutcheon{by Musket ran third for the Australian ; Handicap at the last lloseirill (Sydney) races. Ho was ridden by Georgo Laing. At the same mooting, Kecruit, with Collins in the saddle, got home first in the Steeplechaseof ICOdov. Recruit started at 4to 1. Bushman was elected favourite, but Although he had ths services of P. Nolan in "tho paddle, he could not μet nearer than third, und Eecruit won without an effort , irortj Gfafton, - . Four of the atnrters in tho Two Thousand . Le Nord, Alloway and iSfii Serf—'stand over 16 bands. Matador is said to be mroise, and it is doubtful if he will stand a preparation., 'Onthd other hand, Bohemian, the Metropolitan Stakes winner, is doing good work \ MCaiilMd. f The Well - known Victorian facdhorse ifliord Allen btoly sudcumbed to an attack .of itiUnmniotioii. Lord Allon was ov/ned ■by'Mr Phil Hdywood, and was by Napoleon frdrxi Talkative. \ If a racing man in England, blessed with Jplenty of rilpney, takes ft ftindy to ahorse, cewill havo him. Thd latest instance is ;MrGcorf?e Baird (Mr Abington), who has p4ul 6,000? of for Quartos*, a four-yoflt-'Old ay Tertius—Chaos, whose only appearance last year was a second to Mr Lowthers Workington, winner of the Ebor Sfc Leger at York , J Accounts from Melbourne state Pakeha *ad a bit dicky On his pins soma little time 1 ;»&, bttb he is picking up very nicely just : j}ow, and whi!6 there is a ehanco that he will nob bo able to be thoroughly wound up there i<? every reason to believe ( from present ,;ittVOnriilile : indications, tha* he will stand ;, *be. tiecessary severe preparation which a :." Undergo to have any ibttOfa 'ebow in a race like the Melbourne Cup. "Nenio" thinks the. best dozeh and one "at the heights in the Caulfield Cap are Singapore, Oakleiph, Marvel, Cnintz, Prince Consort, Bothwell, Don •&; Giovan, Knight of the parter, M*?? I .** Tartar, and Highborn. 1M ■porting scribe of the Melbourne "■Stana- ' ard " reckons the following the plot of th 6 • handicap • — Prince Consort, Wbakawal Bothwelli Jebueite, JErnani, W-ilgA, Bnd Propoundsr.

.Since Eao returned to Melbourne he has turned out Guy I'awkes fora spell. Our old friend, M. Car-mody, recently arrived in Melbourne from Tasmania with a team of l.orsea consisting of Silvermero, Oiaude, HeHperus, and a two-year-old named Forbidden Fruit, by The Assyrian - First Fruit.

The Mu>ket—.vJ/.id of Honour mare Precedence won the Corinthian Plato Li, the Caulneid Meeting lately ; Atflaos, another Inew Zealand- bred o:,g, beinjr secund. It is likely that a proposal will shortly be made by the Victorian Racing Club in favour of doing away witli the minimum weight Of 6sb 7ib, leavirifr the handioapper to commence at any iniuimum he thinks fit.

Trouble repeatedly occurs through two horses' having the same name. Tho latest cHffJculty has occurred over ,Sir William. There is a horse of tho same name in Melbourne, and on his beiiif; scratched for iiia V.R.C. enerajjetaents ihe news was telegraphed to Sydney. As tho horse was not particularised, tho general impiession was that it referred to tho Sydney-owned Sir William, who is handicapped at. Bst 111b in tho Melbourne Gup. Mr E. Keys's colt k still in that event.

Tho record for t!io jump by a liovso now stands at 7ft. The feat, was accomplished on May 17th at Washington, United States, by the Canadian horse Ontario, who, in it jumping competition some months previously, hud cleared 6ft Tho horse was rid don by James Freylinjy, who had ridden him in his previous attempts and who, with saddle and bridle, scaled list 51b. The 71 fc waa cleared at tho second attempt, and the record is certiQed to by reliable witnessos. Tho jump is tho best ever before accomplished, though there is a tradition that a hcrso cleared 7fb 6in in Ireland many yeara ago, but the foab was nob certified to and meets with little credence.

" Wo have in Surefoot," says an English sporting journal, " a further instance of the fallacy of tho old-fashioned prejudice ayainst ' first foals. 5 We read thab the Marquis of Westminister of half a century ago carried this dislike to such an extreme that had ho kept hounds lie would certainly have popped into the Uennol-copper the now worldfamous Touchstone, who was a lirsb foal, and who escaped this fato as it> was by n miracle, so resolved was hia owner to do away with him. The following lias should show the utter absurdity of ontertnininji prejudico in respect- of this : —Potßo.=, Dr. Syntax, Sorcerer, Sultan; Sir Hercules, Catton, The Colonel, Taurus, Bay "Malton, Filho da Puta, Melbourne, lon, Liverpool, The Baron, Kingston, Eltluron, Inheritress, Wild Uayrell, Fandango, &c. With regard to at least a moiety of these wo may certainly repeat the quotation from ' Hamlet,' 1 Ne'er shall wo look upon their liko a<rain ' —and yot these were all • iirsb fo.ils. , " In Australia and Now Zealand, many of our best horses have been first foals.